Electric fish tank

ABSTRACT

A fish tank is presented for observation of electrically active fish by the detection of electric or electromagnetic emanations from the fish and conversion to an audio output. A configuration of grounded electrodes effectively divides the tank into a plurality of zones, and other electrodes positioned in the zones, are connected to high gain audio amplifiers whereby electrical emissions of the fish are converted to audio output. The intensity of the detected emanations indicates the relative proximity of the electrically active fish to the other electrodes within their respective zones.

[ Mar. 19, 1974 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene AssistantExaminer-James H. Czerwonky [57] ABSTRACT A fish tank is presented forobservation of electrically active fish by the detection of electric orelectromagnetic emanations from the fish and conversion to an audiooutput. A configuration of grounded electrodes effectively divides thetank into a plurality of zones, and other electrodes positioned in thezones, are connected to high gain audio amplifiers whereby electricalemissions of the fish are converted to audio output. The intensity ofthe detected emanations indicates the relative proximity of theelectricall fish to the other electrodes within their re zones.

ELECTRIC FISH TANK Inventor: Daniel J. Harris, 54 Blue Ridge Ln.,

West Hartford, Conn. 06117 Filed: May 25, 1972 Appl. No.: 256,985

US. 119/5, 43/17.l

Int. A01k 63/00 Field of Search 119/1, 3, 5; 43/l7.1

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Dosamantes et United StatesPatent 1191 Harris I 19/5 119/3 x y actlve 119/1 spective 119/1 119/5 x119/3 X 9 Claims, 1 Drawmg Figure Frieberger et al. Castaigneuunuu.

Lavallee Balamuth.........1....1............

PATENIEDHAR 19 1914 Fig.

ELECTRIC FISH TANK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the InventionThis invention relates to the field of electric and audio observation ofelectrically active fish. More particularly, the invention relates tothe field of fish tanks which are provided with electrode structures connected to audio amplifiers so that emanations from electrically activefish can be detected and monitored.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the past, electrode configurationshave been used for the purpose of obtaining physiological data fromaquatic animals, particularly mammals such as porpoises. However, theseapplications have involved the direct application of electrodes to thebody of the mammal, either by gridling straps or by the form of suctioncup application. Electrode configurations have also been employed toestablish fences or barriers to confine fish and facilitate the catchingof the fish. In other prior art configurations sonar type devices havebeen proposed whereby pulses are emanated and the return thereof sensedto serve as counting devices determining the number of fish passing agiven station.

None of these prior art devices are concerned with the electric fishtank of the present invention wherein electrode configurations and highgain audio amplifiers are deployed to observe and monitor electricallyactive fish.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Although not necessarily limited to home andhobby aquarium environments, the present invention is, nevertheless,particularly suited for such home and hobby use. In the presentinvention electrode structures are established at the opposite sides ofthe fish tank, and a virtual or effective ground plane is establishedacross the tank intermediate of the sides. The electrode structure atthe ends of the tank may be in the form of a single electrode wherebytwo zones are established relative to the ground plane, or it may takethe form of pairs of electrodes near the corners of the tank wherebyfour zones are defined in conjunction with the ground plane. The endelectrodes are connected to high gain audio amplifiers, and electricalsignals emanated by electrically active fish in the tank are picked upby the electrodes and amplified for audio presentation through theamplifiers. In this way, electric or electromagnetic emanations from thefish are converted into a stereophonic audio presentation, the stereoeffect being related to the zones established in the tank. Thus, a newdimension is added to aquarium configurations, particularly home andhobby aquariums, for enhanced entertainment and educational purposes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single FIGURE of the drawing is aperspective view, partly broken away, of an aquarium type fish tank ofthe present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the single FIGUREof the drawing, a fish tank is shown which has a metal frame 12. Theframe 12 is lined with a bottom glass panel 14, front and rear glasspanels 16(a) and 16(1)), and side glass panels 18(a) and 18(b), theseglass panels being sealed at their junctions to provide a water tightcontainer. As seen in the FIGURE, parts of the frame and glass panelsare shown broken away for ease of illustration of parts of thestructure, but it will be understood that the frame and glass extendacross those parts broken away to form a completed structure which is awater tight container which may either be open at the top or which may,if desired, have a glass panel or other closure on the top as well.

A pair of electrodes 20 and 22 are positioned at the corners of theright side of the tank; a similar pair of electrodes 24 and 26 arepositioned at the corners on the left side of the tank, and a third pairof electrodes 30 and 32 are positioned adjacent to the front and rearglass panels approximately midway between the sides of the tank. All ofthese electrodes may be of any suitable electrode material such asmetal, carbon, or conductive plastic. Electrodes 30 and 32 are grounded.This grounding of electrodes 30 and 32 may be accomplished in anyconvenient fashion and is only shown schematically in the drawing. Thisgrounding of electrodes 30 and 32 defines an effective ground plane fromthe front to the back of the tank, thus effectively dividing the tankinto two electric or magnetic zones to the left and right of the groundplane. The zone to the right of the ground plane is further effectivelydivided into two electric or magnetic zones transverse to the groundplane by electrodes 20 and 22; and, similarly, the zone to the left ofthe ground plane is also divided into two electric or magnetic zonestransverse to the ground plane by electrodes 24 and 26. These transversezones may be referred to as subzones to distinguish them from the zonesto the left and rightof the ground plane.

Each of the corner electrodes 20, 22, 24 and 26 is connected,respectively, to the input of high gain audio amplifiers ofamplifier-speaker audio units 34, 36, 38 and 40. Thus, each of theseamplifier-speaker units corresponds to one of the four zones defined bythe electrode structure in the tank.

Assuming that the tank contains water and fish which are electricallyactive in the sense that they emanate electric or electromagneticsignals, those signals will be picked up by the electrodes and willresult in audio output from the audio amplifiers.

The division of the tank into four zones as described above results in afour zone stereo effect system, with the stereo effects being noted fromfront to back and from side to side of the tank. Each of the electrodes20 through 26 is positioned in one of the four zones into which the tankis effectively divided, and the output from the audio amplifier andspeaker associated therewith will vary depending on the proximity of thesource of electric signal to the electrode, i.e., the audio output willvary in a four zone stereo manner depending on the relative position ofthe fish in the tank with respect to the electrodes and the four zones.Also, the amplitude of the audio outputs will vary over a period of timedepending on the movement of the fish as the fish approaches or retreatsfrom any of the corner electrodes or the ground plane defined by thecentral electrodes. Thus, new dimensions, both from education andamusement standpoints are added to fish aquarium structures by thepresent invention.

As shown in the drawing, the tank frame '12 is grounded to reduce theeffects of any stray electric fields such as those from a.c. powerlines. If these fields were picked up they would be reproduced as noiseon the speakers. This grounding of the frame also serves as a safetyprecaution, but that safety feature is a redundant one since the frameis actually insulated from the tank water and thus from the electrodesby the glass lining the interior of the frame.

cally active fish; and

audio units connected to said electrode means to produce audio outputscorresponding to emanations detected by respective ones of saidelectrode means, whereby the intensity of the detected emanationsindicates the relative proximity of the electrically active fish to saidelectrode means within their respective zones.

2. A fish tank as in claim 1 wherein said electrode While the electrodeshave been shown in the form of means i d rods, they could also be inother forms such as screens, plates, balls, coils or strips or coatingsof conductive material. Instead of the four corner electrodes shown, theend glass plates 18(a) and 18(b) could be coated with conductivecoatings. Furthermore, it will be noted that a two zone stereo effectcan be obtained if that is desired rather than the four zone effect byusing only one centrally disposed electrode adjacent to or coated on theend glass plates 18(a) and 18(b).

While the foregoing discussion has been directed to a system wherein theelectrical signals emanating from the fish are converted into soundeffects so that one may hear the fish, the system is reversible. Thatis, the outputs of the amplifiers are connected to the electrodes andthe amplifiers are driven by any desired audio source wereby electricalsignals can then be delivered to the electrodes to talk to the fish andobserve the reactions of the fish to various sound inputs.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, variousmodifications and substitutions can be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the presentinvention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.

While the previous discussion has been directed to a tank of rectangularcross-section, with one ground plane, it will be understood that thetank can be of any desired shape and that a plurality of ground planescan be defined to divide the tank into a plurality of zones, which canbe further divided into subzones if desired.

What is claimed is:

l. A fish tank including:

means defining a tank;

means for establishing at least one effective ground plane in said tankto divide said tank into at least two electric or'magnetic zones;

electrode means positioned in said tank in each of said zones fordetecting emanations from electrimeans for dividing each of said zonesinto subzones.

3. A fish tank as in claim 2 wherein:

said electrode means includes a pair of electrodes positioned in each ofsaid zones, one each of said pair of electrodes being positioned in eachof the subzones.

4. A fish tank as in claim 1 wherein:

said means for establishing an effective ground plane includes a pair ofgrounded electrodes positioned in and spaced apart in said tank.

5. A fish tank as in claim 4 wherein:

said electrode means in each zone includes a pair of electrodes spacedapart in each zone.

6. A fish tank as in claim 5 wherein:

said tank is substantially rectangular in cross section;

and

said ground electrodes are between the sides of the tank to define theeffective ground plane about midway of said tank; and

said electrodes in each zone are adjacent corners of the tank.

7. A fish tank as in claim 1 wherein:

said tank has a grounded metal frame.

8. A fish tank including:

means defining a tank;

electrode means positioned in said tank for detecting emanations fromelectrically active fish; and

audio units connected to said electrode means to produce audio outputscorresponding to emanations detected by respective ones of saidelectrode means, whereby the intensity of the detected emanationsindicates the relative proximity of the electrically active fish to saidelectrode means within their respective zones.

9. A fish tank as in claim 8 wherein said electrode means includes meansfor effectively dividing said tank into a plurality of zones.

1. A fish tank including: means defining a tank; means for establishingat least one effective ground plane in said tank to divide said tankinto at least two electric or magnetic zones; electrode means positionedin said tank in each of said zones for detecting emanations fromelectrically active fish; and audio units connected to said electrodemeans to produce audio outputs corresponding to emanations detected byrespective ones of said electrode means, whereby the intensity of thedetected emanations indicates the relative proximity of the electricallyactive fish to said electrode means within their respective zones.
 2. Afish tank as in claim 1 wherein said electrode means includes: means fordividing each of said zones into subzones.
 3. A fish tank as in claim 2wherein: said electrode means includes a pair of electrodes positionedin each of said zones, one each of said pair of electrodes beingpositioned in each of the subzones.
 4. A fish tank as in claim 1wherein: said means for establishing an effective ground plane includesa pair of grounded electrodes positioned in and spaced apart in saidtank.
 5. A fish tank as in claim 4 wherein: said electrode means in eachzone includes a pair of electrodes spaced apart in each zone.
 6. A fishtank as in claim 5 wherein: said tank is substantially rectangular incross section; and said ground electrodes are between the sides of thetank to define the effective ground plane about midway of said tank; andsaid electrodes in each zone are adjacent corners of the tank.
 7. A fishtank as in claim 1 wherein: said tank has a grounded metal frame.
 8. Afish tank including: means defining a tank; electrode means positionedin said tank for detecting emanations from electrically active fish; andaudio units connected to said electrode means to produce audio outputscorresponding to emanations detected by respective ones of saidelectrode means, whereby the intensity of the detected emanationsindicates the relative proximity of the electrically active fish to saidelectrode means within their respective zones.
 9. A fish tank as inclaim 8 wherein said electrode means includes means for effectivelydividing said tank into a plurality of zones.